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Cunningham Group is here for Florida Physicians & Medical Professionals

We are Medical Malpractice Insurance Specialists helping physicians, medical professionals and medical groups across specialties get medical malpractice coverage at cost-effective rates ‚Äď as well as providing valuable tools and resources.

EXPERIENCED

Founded in 1947, our experienced liability specialists will customize a policy to the specific needs of you and your practice.

PHYSICIAN DISCOUNTS

Get all the physician discounts you are entitled to, including: Risk Management, Claims-free and New to Practice.

We publish historic rate data for every county in the State, in partnership with the Medical Liability Monitor ‚Äď the nation‚Äôs leading independent source of Medical Liability Insurance and healthcare industry news.

The Florida Malpractice Landscape

Florida has a history of high medical malpractice insurance rates and generous jury settlements. According to the Institute for Legal Reform‚Äôs (ILR) 2015 Lawsuit Climate Survey, Florida ranked 44 out of the 50 states on the fairness and reasonableness of its state liability system. Though reforms were passed in 2003 to help change this situation, Florida is still known for being an expensive state to practice in. According to the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management, in 2015, the cost of defending a medical malpractice claim in Florida was 2.9 times the national average and, in 2014, the average amount of a malpractice payment in Florida was $299,800, compared to a national average of $242,000.

Florida does have a variety of insurers offering medical malpractice coverage, as well as the ability for doctors to ‚Äėgo bare.‚Äô These factors have helped keep Florida premiums lower than they might have been otherwise. However, parts of the 2003 tort reform package have been overturned in recent years, leading to greater uncertainty in the marketplace.

Tort Reform in Florida

Efforts to reform the medical liability system in Florida date back to the mid-1980s. The first success arising from these efforts was a 1988 law which created an arbitration system and capped non-economic damages for cases that used arbitration. However, since very few plaintiffs agreed to use arbitration, this part of the law was not very effective. The 1988 bill also required that an expert medical opinion be submitted when filing a medical malpractice lawsuit, which may have helped to limit frivolous lawsuits.

Tort reform was not attempted again with any success until 2003, when sweeping reforms limiting non-economic damages were passed during a special session of the legislature. The legislation limited noneconomic damages to $500,000 or $1,000,000, depending on the circumstances of the case.¬†In March 2014, the Florida Supreme Court struck down the cap on damages in cases that result in a patient‚Äôs death.

Three years later, in June of 2017, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the cap on damages was unconstitutional in all medical malpractice cases. The four-member majority found caps on non-economic damages violate equal protection rights, are arbitrary and have had little effect on reducing medical malpractice insurance premiums.

The Florida Supreme Court took another whack at the state‚Äôs medical liability tort reforms in November 2017 when it rejected a 2013 law involving an¬†issue known as ‚Äúex parte‚ÄĚ communications between doctors and defense attorneys. The Court found that Florida‚Äôs Constitutional privacy rights extend beyond death. This means that medical malpractice defense attorneys can no longer interview alleged victims‚Äô previous healthcare providers in private while investigating the claim of negligence.

Does Florida have‚Ä¶

Damage Caps? Yes, noneconomic damages are capped at $500,000 against practitioners; the cap increases to $750,000 for non-practitioner defendants. The cap increases to $1 million in cases of death or an injury leading to a permanent vegetative state. In particularly severe cases in which a defendant’s negligence causes a catastrophic injury to a patient, the courts can also decide to increase the damage cap to $ 1 million.

Patient Compensation Fund? Yes, Florida has the Florida Birth-Related Injury Compensation Plan, which provides funds to children who suffer from specific birth-related injuries, without regard to any negligence by a healthcare provider. Additionally, Florida has a Patient Compensation Fund, which provides excess coverage to hospitals and physicians in the state.

Apology Law? Yes, statements, writings and gestures expressing sympathy or a sense of benevolence can be made to a patient or the patient’s family, not including statements of fault.

Joint Liability Reform? Yes, defendants are only responsible for their portion of negligence.

Limits on Plaintiff Attorney‚Äôs Fees? Yes, plaintiffs receive 70% of the first $250,000 awarded, and 90% of any damages awarded in excess of $250,000.

Medical Malpractice Rates in Florida

Overview

Medical malpractice rates in Florida are high, though they have been holding steady or falling in recent years. Surgeons and OBGYNs in the Sunshine State face rates that frequently approach or exceed $100,000 per year, with rates in some parts of Florida approaching $200,000. For family practitioners, most yearly premiums are in the $20,000 – $30,000 range, depending on location.

Get Historic Rates

By combining our efforts with those of the Medical Liability Monitor ‚Äď the nation‚Äôs leading independent source of Medical Liability Insurance news, as well as the political, legal and risk management issues that affect the healthcare industry ‚Äď we‚Äôve published historic rate data for every county in the Sunshine State. You can view all the rates by completing the three simple steps on the left of this page. You‚Äôll find the insights offered by this information invaluable when making your decision on your medical malpractice insurance coverage and carriers. This is only one of the many reasons that Cunningham Group Insurance has become the preferred online source for Florida physicians, healthcare professionals and medical groups looking to find the best coverage and lower their medical malpractice insurance rates.

Coverage by Florida County

Miami-Dade County has the most expensive medical malpractice insurance rates in Florida, with insurance costing twice as much or more as a similar policy in other parts of the state. The Palm Beach area and Broward County also have high rates compared with the rest of the state. See our Historic Rate Data to compare different Florida counties.